Tanjung Bira Beach, Bulukumba, South Sulawesi..

Traveling around an archipelago like Indonesia, you will easily find beaches everywhere. From a white-smooth-sandy beach like Tanjung Bira in South Sulawesi, to granite-rocks-formed beaches in Bangka-Belitung islands. Most of those beaches are still untouched, preserving the beauties for last. I got the chance to visit few of those beautiful beaches, and still many more lining up in my list to visit… Continue Reading

A cup of cafe latte during breakfast, the best way to start the day in Melbourne..

A cup of latte during breakfast, the best way to start the day in Melbourne..

Lately I have been traveling to Melbourne quite a few times for business purposes. Since they were business trips, the opportunity for sight-seeing and enjoying the city life was certainly not much. But in between the tight schedules and also during the weekend where I had more free time, I managed to find some spare time and the opportunity to enjoy the atmosphere of the city that has been named the world’s most livable city for the third year in a row based on the results of the survey conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit. Those were the times where I could observe the dazzling life in this beautiful city. Its environment, its culture diversity, its society, its people. One thing that’s caught my attention: The coffee culture that is so inherent to this city. Far exceeds any other cities in Australia..

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The infamous komodo dragon..

The infamous komodo dragon..

Although the main purpose of our Komodo trip was a diving trip, it would still feel not complete if we didn’t visit the Komodo National Park, watching and observing these endangered creatures in their natural habitat. We’ve already made a long trip all the way here. It would have been a loss if we didn’t stop by, especially for some of us who were first-timers going to this Komodo region. So, on the last day of the trip we only did two dives in the morning and right after lunch MV Tarata sailed towards Loh Buaya, one of the ranger station locations on Rinca Island..

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Getting ready for Eid prayers..

Getting ready for Eid prayers..

The third day of our Komodo diving trip just coincided with the feast of Eid al-Adha. So, when we did the cruise plan along with Captain Meko a.k.a. Pak Makarudin, the ship captain, and Wilson, our dive guide, we set it up that on the second night MV Tarata will be anchored off the coast of Komodo village located on the east coast of the Komodo island so in the next morning my fellow Moslem friends onboard and I can go down to the village for the Eid prayers. So, after spending time enjoying the sunset view at Pink Beach, we all immediately returned to the ship, got freshened up and had dinner. And MV Tarata slowly began to move west, toward the east coast of the Komodo island..

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Manta Rays.. (photo by Parvita)

Manta Rays.. (photo by Parvita)

The waves tossed around the rubber boat that took the six of us to the dive point. Doubt and hesitant started to emerge, but the flowing adrenaline then overtook, as we were expecting to meet one of the most beautiful marine creatures. And we didn’t have to wait for long at all. As soon as we back-rolled from the boat and started to dive, we were immediately greeted by one, two, three, four of 2-3 meters wide manta rays. We continued to descent to 27 meters depth, and more manta rays appeared. The healthy coral reefs around us with all its occupants were momentarily forgotten as we enjoyed the beautiful performance of dozens of manta rays that come and say hello. Komodo archipelago waters was really spoiling us..

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